Alabama and South Carolina might have already duked it out on the field, but the battle between them is nowhere near over as the three-loss teams, along with Ole Miss and Miami, gave their best in the rivalry week to secure a spot in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff if SMU beat Clemson on December 8.
Despite Ole Miss and Miami also being a possible contender for the playoff spot, 247Sports' analyst Brad Crawford explained why it will boil down to South Carolina and Alabama.
"The bottom line ... It's going to come down to Alabama or South Carolina for that final playoff spot. The Gamecocks were 3 TD underdogs in Tuscaloosa & lost by two. It's obvious which team is hotter. SC crushed Vandy and OU. The committee either goes brand or most deserving," Crawford tweeted, and the fans across X stand divided on the take.
South Carolina proved themselves against Alabama by making them struggle and won against them in a 27-25 clash.
On top of that, the Gamecocks have dominated games against Kentucky (31-6), Vanderbilt (28-7), and Texas A&M (44-20), all of which left the top teams like Ole Miss, Alabama, and LSU stunned when they won against them.
Alabama, on the other hand, lost to teams like Vanderbilt (40-35), Tennessee (24-17), and Oklahoma (24-3).
This is precisely why several analysts are vehemently vouching for South Carolina to have the playoff spot over Alabama.
Chris Fowler believes "South Carolina is elite. There's 4 or 5 teams in the (SEC) with more talent up front than Alabama."
Orange Blood's Cody Carpentier thinks the discussion shouldn't be happening in the first place since SC deserves a spot.
"Team for Team... Pound for Pound... South Carolina deserves a spot in the 12-team playoff over Miami, Alabama, and Ole Miss... And it's not really a conversation IMO."
CBS analyst Adam Breneman cast his vote for South Carolina asserting that, "South Carolina should be the final playoff team over Alabama."
South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer doesn't have much faith in the Gamecocks getting that spot himself, but they sure have the media's backing.
